Battleship

The movie Battleship was made in 2012 by the director Peter Berg. The plot of the movie is that NASA built and sent out a signal into space in attempts to see if there is life out there. During Rim of The Pacific or RIMPAC exercise years later, Earth is visited by aliens that heard this signal and conflict between the Japanese and U.S. Navy erupts. The Human race prevails because of not only the Japanese and U.S. Navy, but also that of
U.S. Navy Veterans, the main characters girlfriend, and a decorated retired Major of the U.S. Army, who is also a double amputee.

This movie starts off with two brothers, the older being an officer in the Navy and the other being somewhat of a screw-up. He ends up getting in trouble with the law, over a girl, and the Naval brother tells him that he is joining the Navy. It then flashes forward to the younger brother being an officer also. This suggests that any average joe can be like him. The first scene that the viewer sees of him being in the Navy is in the “RIMPAC Cup” soccer match between the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Navy in Hawaii. What happens in this match is that James Hopper, the younger brother and main character, gets kicked in the face by the Japanese officer Captain Nagata. There is a huge rivalry and hatred between Hopper and Nagata, showing hints at the past conflicts between the two countries. The two later cross paths in the bathroom, resulting in brawl, which almost costs them their jobs. Their relationship morphs over the course of the movie, including Hopper saving Nagata’s live after the Japanese ship is sunk, and then Nagata helps Hopper by showing a way to track the aliens without radar. When is comes to this way of tracking, Hopper states, “you dirty, cheatin’, sneaky…” suggesting that even though the U.S. and Japan are now Allies, that they are still dangerous and something to be weary of, but then he states, “I like it.” They become a more and more cohesive team and by the end of the movie become very good friends.

One scene that I found particularly interesting is the scene when a family is on a tour of the naval ship U.S.S. Missouri and a little boy ask what the difference was between a battleship and a destroyer. Hopper, while walking by, cuts in and explains how “awesome” the destroyer is and how they are designed to “dish it out like the Terminator”. This scene here again hypes up the Navy and attempts to not only convince the viewer how cool it would be to join the Navy, but now gets even more specific into what jobs would be the most exciting

Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales, played by Retired Colonel Gregory Gadson is also a huge part of this movie. Gadson is a decorated officer from the Army who was severely injured in Iraq, resulting in a double amputation above the knee. The first scene that we see “Mic” in is at the“Naval Physical Therapy center in Oahu, Hawaii”. Mic is shown conducting physical therapy and becomes very frustrated and quits. When he talks to the physical therapist, Sam who is assigned to him, asks if it was true that, “you lost the will to fight”. The camera zooms in on his very somber face as he replies, “I lost my fight when I lost my legs”; he also argues that he is “half a man, and half a man ain’t enough to be a soldier.” This very real feeling scene attempts to show the extremely real lives that wounded combat veterans feel, and tries to tug at the heart strings of the views as well as spark fire in some to join the navy, which they have been hyping in the last 28 minutes (iTunes Movies, Battleship). It does not end on a sad note with Mic however. His physical therapist helps him in his road to recovery, suggesting to the viewer that the military’s medical field is exceptional, which is controversial in reality. Mic is a crucial part of saving the world from these aliens, including a hand-to-hand combat fight scene with one of the more powerful aliens, and with the use of his prosthetic legs, beats the alien. This triumph is somewhat of a metaphor for Mic gaining back that “will to fight” that they talk about in the beginning.

In the making of this movie, the U.S. Navy played a huge role in is creation, which is shown in the credits as well as on IMDB under the “Company Credits” section (IMDB, Battleship 2012). The RIMPAC exercise is even a real event that occurs, which includes the involvement of 26 nations (public.navy.mil). Most of the filming was either done on, or of U.S. Naval ships and according to an article on The Wrap, producer of the film Sarah Aubrey stated that, “roughly 50 percent of the shots in the film used real naval locations” (The Wrap, How ‘Battleship’ Enlisted The Navy). She is also quoted as arguing that they could not have pulled off the movie without the help of the Navy and that, “We made this movie because we wanted to showcase the modern Navy, which is an Navy that has not been seen in a film before” (The Wrap). Bret Lang, the writer of this article also argues that because of how the naval officers are shown “heroically taking the battle to villainous extraterrestrials” that this was the ticket to getting the armed forces to sign on to the participation of the movie. The article also quotes Bob Anderson, the Director of the Navy Office of Information West as stating, “The Navy is portrayed very well…Our sailors are shown, not knuckling under, but performing with great mental acuity to fight back against overwhelming odds and laying down their lives when necessary” (The Wrap). Lang also states in the article that Navy recruitment videos were shown in the theaters before the film, much like how most trailers are shown. This movie a many propagandistic elements, which I had never thought of before this class, even thought I had already watch the film on previous occasions.